Politician and author Stacey Abrams is launching a weekly podcast with Crooked Media.
The podcast, entitled Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams, will see the former Georgia gubernatorial candidate break down big issues facing the country, interview experts about solutions and discuss ways for listeners to get involved.
Asked why she decided to launch her own podcast, Abrams told The Hollywood Reporter that she wanted to take the lessons she learned from her time in the George state legislature, when she would host town halls allowing constituents to ask questions on anything, ranging from tax exemptions to why it was hard to get trash picked up.
“What I found is that when people feel that they don’t understand or that the problem is too big, they can be overwhelmed by just the sheer size of the issue, and I think a podcast is an entertaining and informative way to highlight these issues, to take topics, whether they are politics or policy, and allow people to ask questions and then break it down, talk about how it impacts our lives, and then help them better understand how they can create change,” Abrams said. “So a podcast is the medium, in this moment, that can reach people where they are when they’re ready to hear, and I think it’s the best way to have these conversations.”
Abrams has frequently collaborated with Crooked Media, appearing as a guest on Pod Save America and other shows, and working together to raise money for her organization, Fair Fight Action, which fights voter suppression.
She plans to approach each episode through the format she said she uses throughout her life: “So what’s the problem? Why is it a problem? And then how do you solve it?” At the end of each episode, Abrams will include a toolkit on how to find out more information and take action.
The first episode will be released Aug. 15, meaning the podcast will enter directly into the political fray ahead of the presidential election.
“I can’t imagine a better time,” Abrams said. “We are in the midst of big, meaty, terrifying issues that can feel overwhelming and can also feel defeating. My mission is for people to understand that, yeah, it feels too big, but we don’t have to fix it all at once. We can work towards solutions. We can strategize, and we can pick the places where we enter. Not everyone has to go to the same part of the problem. Not everyone has to do the same thing.”
“What I love to tell folks when I’m having conversations, especially in political moments like this, is that we feel like we’ve got to fix everything, everywhere, all at once. But the point of this podcast is to remind folks that we should each do something, somewhere, soon,” she continued.
